Chery’s new electric SUV is comfortable, roomy and loaded with kit, and it’s a close relative of the Jaecoo 7 that topped Britain’s sales chart in September. I drove a pre-production car in China, and if you want an EV with a name people will ask about in the company car park, it deserves a look, though the price will decide whether it deserves your money. The Lepas L6 EV is a comfortable, roomy electric family SUV with a long kit list and an official range of up to 279 miles, and on my drive it earned a place on any electric SUV shortlist. The steering is its weak spot, and the value case can’t be judged until Lepas names a price. That price hasn’t been announced yet, but order books are due to open in the final quarter of this year, and dealers are already taking registrations of interest. The brand is on sale here already with the L8, a bigger plug-in hybrid SUV that costs £34,900 in Essence trim and £37,900 as an Elevate, which shows where Lepas is pitching itself. Motorpoint expects the L6 to start at around £30,000 to £32,000. I drove a pre-production L6 EV over several days between Shanghai and Chery’s headquarters in Wuhu. It impressed me with its comfort and straightforward performance, although the steering felt artificial. The L6 shares its technology with the Jaecoo 7, Chery’s plug-in hybrid SUV that was the UK’s best-selling car in September, and it joins Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo and the L8 in the company’s push into Britain. Its electric rivals include the Skoda Elroq, Kia EV3 and Volkswagen ID.4. Three daily briefings with the key market moves and top business and political stories. Lepas is Chery’s newest brand, launched in April 2025. At the 2026 Chery International User Summit in Wuhu, which was the other reason I was in China, I asked Zhong Wei, Lepas’s deputy chief executive, why the world needed it. For Mr Zhong, the brand reflects a shift in what buyers want. As people become more discerning, he says, they look for a car that expresses their personality and taste as well as getting them from A to B. Chery’s existing brands can’t satisfy every customer in the same way, he explained, so the company created a marque with its own identity, built around what he calls an elegant lifestyle of new-energy vehicles, intelligent technology and a more considered ownership experience. That’s a big ask in Britain, where plenty of company-car drivers and private buyers have stuck with European badges for years. They’ll want to know what a Lepas is worth after three years, and because the brand is so new here, there’s no track record to tell them. I drove the L6 EV on multi-lane expressways, across the flat roads of the Yangtze River Delta and along more scenic mountain routes. It felt comfortable throughout, and acceleration was strong enough to make overtaking straightforward without the abrupt surge some electric cars produce. It also stayed composed on faster roads, in rain or shine (the part of China we were in seemed to deliver four seasons in one day). The cabin had enough room for four of us and our luggage, so it made a relaxed family car. The L6’s main weakness is its steering, which lacks the feedback you get from some European brands. If all you want is a comfortable, easy SUV, you’ll barely notice, but if you enjoy a more connected drive, it’s the part of the L6 most likely to disappoint. These impressions are based on a pre-production car, so the finished UK version may have different suspension and steering settings. The L6 pairs a 65kWh battery with an electric motor producing 217PS and 275Nm of torque. Lepas quotes a 0 to 62mph time of 7.9 seconds and an official WLTP range of up to 279 miles. Driving in China isn’t always easy, especially in downpours (it’s almost as tricky as London), so I kept my eyes on the road rather than the instruments for much of the t
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